Biologically Inspired, Sophisticated Motions from Helically Assembled, Conducting Fibers

A hierarchically helical organization of carbon nanotubes into macroscopic fibers enables sophistication while controlling three-dimensional electromechanical actuations, e.g., an artificial swing and tail. The actuation generates a stress of more than 260 times that of a typical natural skeletal muscle and an accelerated velocity of more than 10 times that of a cheetah at low electric currents with high reversibility, good stability, and availability to various media.